Israeli man confronts an African asylum seeker after an anti-African rally in south Tel Aviv, December 31, 2012 (Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)
You can tell a lot about a media outlet by how it covers Israel. A recent case in point is the New York Times.
The Times recently posted a short video entitled, “Free Style In Tel Aviv“, which showcases Israeli hipsters in Jaffa, a Tel Aviv neighborhood with an “eclectic style inspired by the area’s famous flea market.” Of course there’s no mention of Jaffa’s indigenous Palestinian inhabitants who were ethnically cleansed by Zionist militias in 1948 to make room for the Israeli Jews featured in the piece. Nor is there any acknowledgment that ethnic cleansing of Palestinian citizens of Israel continues at a gradual pace to this day, in an atmosphere of violent anti-Arab and anti-African racism that plagues the heart of Israeli culture. But who cares about dispossession when there are funky Israeli hipsters to celebrate, am I right?
Here’s an excerpt from the video (transcribed by Phil Weiss at Mondoweiss):
Omri Aviv. Hipster. “I really love the Jaffa area because it’s funky with a true Israeli look. … funky and authentic.”
Ofir Siman-Tov, on wearing women’s clothes in Jaffa: “This neighborhood is relaxed, chilling, and there’s freedom in the street.”
Tmima Svitelman: “There’s certainly an eclectic style here that I like very much, and I hope they preserve it.”
In stark contrast, The Nation recently posted “Israel’s New Racism: The Persecution of African Migrants in the Holy Land,” a short video produced by journalists David Sheen and Max Blumenthal. The mini-documentary reveals Israel’s brutal racism towards African migrants in disturbing scenes of nationalist rallies led by mainstream Israeli politicians proudly declaring their hatred of Africans and leading n-word laden chants demanding “the infiltrators” return to the countries they fled, all in the name of preserving Israel’s Jewish character. This is the Israel that most major US news outlets are loathe to acknowledge.
As it turns out, Sheen and Blumenthal’s video was originally commissioned solicited but ultimately rejected by the New York Times. In an interview with Consortium News, Blumenthal explains how it all went down:
I was asked to submit something by The New York Times op docs, a new section on the website that published short video documentaries. I am known for short video documentaries about the right wing in the US, and extremism in Israel. They solicited a video from me, and when I didn’t produce it in time, they called me for it, saying they wanted it. So I sent them a video I produced with my colleague, David Sheen, an Israeli journalist who is covering the situation of non-Jewish Africans in Israel more extensively than any journalist in the world.
We put together some shocking footage of pogroms against African communities in Tel Aviv, and interviews with human rights activists. I thought it was a well-done documentary about a situation very few Americans were familiar with. We included analysis. We tailored it to their style, and of courseit was rejected without an explanation after being solicited. Isent it to some other major websites and they have not even responded to me, when they had often solicited articles from me in the past.
Why show their readers the real Israel, where Jewish nationalists—incited by Israeli politicians—scream racial epithets at Sudanese migrants in scenes reminiscent of white supremacist riots in the Jim Crow south, when the Times can instead glorify Tel Aviv as an Israeli hipster paradise?
So, without further ado, here is the video that the New York Times doesn’t want you to see:
And here is the New York Times’ whitewashed version of Israel:
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I recently conducted a Q and A with Blumenthal, which will be published soon at Truthout. We spoke at length about the horrors detailed in his book, “Goliath: Life and Loathing in Greater Israel” and the establishment media’s refusal to acknowledge the realities he exposes on the ground. It’s truly a must-read.
They have clearly forgotten when Hitler called us Jews a cancer. They are forgetting their own role today.
October 18, 2013 at 5:15 pmBrainreels—
The following is part of a transcript of Peter Beinart (American, Jewish-left) being interviewed by Joshua Holland (Non-practicing).
Joshua Holland: From my perspective, I don’t know why it’s a problem that younger American Jews are finding themselves distanced from the state of Israel. We’re not under threat as Jews are in some other countries. I think we have a very secure position here in the United States. I don’t get why that’s more of a problem than Catholics not feeling an attachment to the Vatican. I’m not sure why I should care about a contested chunk of earth thousands of miles away.
Peter Beinart: I guess I would say a couple of things. The first is that one of the things I think most young Jews feel most proud of in the Jewish tradition, whether they are religious or not, is that it contained ideas about justice and human dignity that have been very powerful throughout the world. Stories like the Exodus have inspired many people. It’s had such an influence on African American civil rights and so many other movements.
I guess the point I would make to those people is that this tradition, this Jewish tradition, written in our texts about dignity and justice was forged in powerlessness. Jews wrote these texts essentially when we were powerless. Jews haven’t had sovereignty for 2,000 years. If it turns out that the Jewish tradition cannot inform the actions of a Jewish state when Jews wield power; if it turns out that those traditions become essentially meaningless once Jews actually have the power to do to others what others have done to them, then that is a kind of retroactive judgment of the Jewish tradition itself, which is quite devastating.
It seems to me, regardless of your connection to religious observance and regardless to your connection of the idea of a Jewish state, the question of what Jews do with power should be something of great concern to you because ultimately I think what Jews do with power is the great test of the Jewish tradition itself.
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You can read the entire interview here: http://www.alternet.org/story/156189/why_are_%28mostly_liberal%29_american_jews_silent_as_right-wing_extremists_in_israel_threaten_the_country%27s_democracy?paging=off¤t_page=1#bookmark Max Blumenthal was also interviewed on Joshua Holland’s Alternet Radio Hour (Now Politics and Reality Radio). Let me know if you want the links to anything.
October 18, 2013 at 10:16 pmIt’s interesting – not surprising – but still interesting that the NYT video characterizes being a culture that is “alternative” and “out of the mainstream” based on its consumerism. Buying things determines who you are and determines what is “edgy.” Lots of room to buy “alternative” things, but little room for alternative viewpoints.
October 19, 2013 at 2:33 amThis is ridiculous. The video is clearly interposing video regarding the Arab Israeli Conflict with video about African migrants. This seems to be a matter of rejecting IMMIGRANTS. A relevant documentary would not skew the facts so wildly.
October 21, 2013 at 10:53 amReblogged this on PreOCCUPIED ImagiNATION.
October 25, 2013 at 5:55 pm“Of course there’s no mention of Jaffa’s indigenous Palestinian inhabitants who were ethnically cleansed by Zionist militias in 1948 to make room for the Israeli Jews featured in the piece.”
You expect a video about hipsters in New York to cover the dispossession of Manhattan’s indigenous population?
Ridiculous is right.
October 31, 2013 at 7:45 pmNo, but this is not the point here. The point is about what the NYT decided was a more important and proper story to tell. Clearly they intentionally neglected telling the one portraying the true face of Israel.
November 12, 2013 at 4:33 pm“Of course there’s no mention of Jaffa’s indigenous Palestinian inhabitants who were ethnically cleansed by Zionist militias in 1948 to make room for the Israeli Jews featured in the piece.”
You expect a video about hipsters in New York to cover the dispossession of Manhattan’s indigenous population?
Ridiculous is right.
October 31, 2013 at 7:45 pmNo, but this is not the point here. The point is about what the NYT decided was a more important and proper story to tell. Clearly they intentionally neglected telling the one portraying the true face of Israel.
November 12, 2013 at 4:33 pm[…] New York Times Solicits Then Rejects Video of Anti-African Racism in Israel (raniakhalek.com) […]
November 7, 2013 at 12:18 pm[…] New York Times Solicits Then Rejects Video of Anti-African Racism in Israel (raniakhalek.com) […]
November 7, 2013 at 12:18 pm